! Zone 3 Orchard - Who Survived the Winter

Hello All,

I live in zone 3 in Canada in a prairie province and started planting a variety of fruit trees around my property last year.  I thought I would let you all know which trees lived and which died during their first winter to give you some ideas of trees to plant in your own yard, or not. For some background we did have unusually long stretches of cold weather (around -40C lasting a few weeks) last winter on the back of an unusually dry summer.  Also I don't fuss around with the trees so they weren't covered or really protected in any way.  Here goes:

Pear Trees:
Summercrisp pear from Nutcracker Nursery  - survived
St Sophie pear from Nutcracker Nursery - survived
Hudar pear from Hardy Fruit Trees - survived

Apple Trees
Parkland apple from Nutcracker Nursery - a moose ate it down to the snowline but it still survived
Wealthy apple from Nutcracker Nursery- died
Prairie Sensation from Prairie Hardy Nursery - survived
September Ruby apple from Treetime - this was a multi pack, some lived but majority died
I also started some apple seedlings from grocery store apple seeds I saved.   2 survived the winter.

Plums
Lee Red plum from Prairie Hardy Nursery - survived
Canada Plum from Hardy Fruit Trees - a moose ate the top of it but it's still alive
Brookred from Hardy Fruit Trees - survived

Cherry Plums
I ordered Manor and Dura cherry plums from Nutcracker Nursery and they survived

Apricots
Debbies Gold from Prairie Hardy Nursery - died
Manchurian Apricot from Prairie Hardy Nursery - died

Nut Trees
Butternut (they were on sale as they were "possibly hybridized") - all died
Hazelbert hazelnuts from Hardy Fruit Trees - another multipack, all survived

Strawberries
Albion Everbearing Strawberries from Veseys - survived
Kent strawberries from Veseys - died

Haskaps
I ordered a few different kinds, some from a local nursery and some from Treetime.  They seem to have largely survived regardless of variety.

Last not a fruit or berry but chives overwintered just fine.

So if you're looking for variety ideas on your cold property hopefully this gives you some ideas.  If you have varieties that are thriving please let me know, I'm excited to keep on trying new fruit trees/berry bushes!

Welcome aboard, Ashley! Great first post, thanks. That's valuable information.

Agreed, it was a tough and strange winter. We find that while extended cold periods take a toll, the constant freeze and thaw cycles we are experiencing are deadly to all sorts of perennials.

I suspect the Parkland eaten by a moose would have been grafted onto a hardier rootstock. So, if the rootstock kicks out new shoots, they won't be much use to you unless you get into grafting.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Welcome aboard, Ashley! Great first post, thanks. That's valuable information.

Agreed, it was a tough and strange winter. We find that while extended cold periods take a toll, the constant freeze and thaw cycles we are experiencing are deadly to all sorts of perennials.

I suspect the Parkland eaten by a moose would have been grafted onto a hardier rootstock. So, if the rootstock kicks out new shoots, they won't be much use to you unless you get into grafting.

Thank you I spent quite awhile researching varieties so I thought maybe I could save someone else a bit of time.

As far as the Parkland apple goes, I'll let it grow and see how it goes.  Maybe I'll get a delicious Parkland apple or maybe I'll get an opportunity to learn how to graft.

I'm also in Manitoba (jsut south of Winnipeg, Z3), so I can tag on here:

Most everything I planted over the last two years survived the winter, but definitely some with winterkill, here's my list. All survived well unless noted:

PLUMS
Opal plum on mustang rootstock - took winterkill to snowline
Canada
Brookgold
Ivanovka
Ptitsin#5
Fofonoff

APRICOT
Debbie's gold apricot

CHERRY (Sour, Pin)
maskinoge
Crimson Passion
Cupid
Romeo
Juliet

APPLES - all grown as espaliers, 1st tier at 18", then 12" apart
Prairie Sensation
Red Wonder
Redfield

PEARS - these had snow heaped on them up to 3-4' high. A few went above the snow line and had winter kill as noted.
So Sweet
Ussurian
Schroeder
Favoritka
Beedle
Flemish Beauty - may have taken winterkill above snowline, BUT i think what actually killed it was high standing water. Both it and Pattern leafed out fully, then died down to much lower on the trunk. I think its because our yard has been oversaturated due to spring flooding and nonstop rain.
Patten - same damage as flemish beauty

PEACHES
Contender on Krymsk 86 - Severe winterkill above snowline, only 1 branch leafed out that was under the snow.
Bailey seedling
Harrow Diamond on Bailey - Flowered and pushing fruit!!!
Saturn Doughnut  on Bailey - DEAD. failed to leaf out. Trunk passed the green-scratch test early in spring, but failed to develop any new buds and leaf out. Appears dead.

APPLES
Collet seedling
Transparent Yellow on B118
Kerr
Norkent
Parkland
Sept Ruby
Goodland

GRAPES
Osceola Muscat
Bluebell
Swenson Red
Brianna

I'm looking for more peach seeds to try growing - if you have any to share, please let me know!!!

Thanks, Roberta. Excellent info!

Has anyone had a mulberry tree survive in rural manitoba, pembina valley area?

Thanks Roberta! I tried some varieties off your list and had great success with Ptitsin#5 and Fofonoff plum trees. My So Sweet pear is green like it’s alive but it isn’t leafing out so I’m not sure what is happening with it.

How have your peaches been doing? I ordered a Siberian c peach this year to see if I can keep it alive.

And Kelly I’m not in Manitoba but I ordered a trader mulberry this year so next year I can let you know if it survives the winter.

Thank you for the great lists!! We did not know our orchard was in zone 3 until this year when it hit -32F. I mostly planted for zone 4, and many of them have one living bud down by the ground, and may come back. But here is what survived:

Sweet Sixteen apple
King Edward cider apple
Kingston Black cider apple
Surefire pie cherry
Seker Gevrel quince
Toka plum, Asian x P. americanus hybrid, although it has some kind of disease now turning its leaves pale

All except the Sweet Sixteen were purchased at Raintree nursery in Oregon. This is their 3rd year, and the Sweet Sixteen is 6, but it was transplanted last year. None of them made blossoms and they all look a little haggard, especially the Toka.

As long as the moose did not eat down below the graft your apple tree will be fine; however, if it get eaten by deer or moose every year you may never get apples.  You should also be aware of rabbits and voles.  They will eat the bark of your trees all the way around and that will kill your trees.  That happened to me with voles to one of my trees and I had to make 4 bridge-grafts to save it.  I was a little leery of trying it as I had never done anything like that before, but....I figured--what have I got to lose.  Low and behold, it worked!  The tree survived and even produced it's first 4 apples that summer.  THANK YOU YOU TUBE!!!  It would be a good idea to do some research on repelling those pests OR protecting your trees until they get older older and have tougher bark.  Some years ago I had a 5 year old Norkent Apple have it's bark stripped off all the way around so I am not sure how old they need to be before they are tough enough....I guess when it get thick and gnarly.  One thing I can share with you though, is if you cut the dead tree off at the ground. the the rootstock will grow you a beautiful blooming crabapple tree.  The crab apples are usually very small but the birds enjoy them.  One thing I have noticed...I have three apple trees that died over the years from voles or some other reason--the voles never touch those ones.  Something they don't like I guess.   The regrown crabapples were all from different type apples.  The blossoms all look different so I would hazard a guess that they just don't like crab apple bark.  The first one that the voles ate is now ten years old, 25 feet tall and has a butt about 7" thick.  My success with the bridge grafts has encouraged me to try grafting some hardy apple types onto it this spring.  Wish me luck.

2+ hours north of Edmonton. Just starting out on our journey in Alberta. It’s been a big adjustment moving from zone 8b/9a to zone 3a bordering 2b.

No damage to any of the fruit trees/bushes that existed when we bought:
-3 acres of saskatoons, unknown variety or varieties
-raspberries of unknown variety (we got no berries last year because we had almost no snow when it dropped to -40) but they survived. Hoping for berries this year!
-1 full sized apple of unknown variety
-9ish crab apples of unknown varieties… we have red ones and yellow ones, pink fleshed ones and purple leaved ones…
-Chokecherries, though they have black knot and will be removed

Of what I planted last year
-lost 3 of my 24 B118 apple rootstock (grafting various varieties of apple to them this year)
-haven’t checked on my Cupid cherry yet
-All saskatoons planted in shelterbelt (as if I needed more!) survived

Adding this year:
-Ussurian Pear x 5 (to later graft to)
-Canada Buffalo Berry x 3
-Highbush Cranberry x 2
-Chokecherry x 3 (far from where I am removing the black knot infected chokecherry)
-Pincherry x 3
-Taylor Apple Pear
-Bolshaya Pear
-Flemish Beauty Pear
-Golden Spice Pear
-Krazulya Pear

And grafting to my apple rootstock:
-Chestnut Crab
-Kerr Crab
-September Ruby
-Parkland
-Norland
-Norkent
-Nova Easy-grow
-Goodland
-Cortland Nova Red
-Battleford

I’m also still considering adding 10 mustang plum for rootstock

I haven't seen anyone list sour cherries, but when we lived in zone 3 in the prairies, ours were reliable producers and my favourite summer fruit. We had the old tree type - probably Montmorency, or perhaps Evans.

My saskatoons were wild, and I picked buckets and buckets of them, and we had a large patch of red raspberries, plus Red Lake currants and of course, plenty of rhubarb.  We had crab apples, and two eating apples - one very green and tart, and one delicious one i suspect was Goodland, but on a standard rootstock and in shade so it produced very few apples, and i only got the (treasured!) windfall, a few apples per year. And crabs, of course.  And strawberries were reliable, and delicious too.

My dad is still in zone 3, but Ontario - he hasnt had any success at all with the modern U Sask sweet sour cherry bushes or, sadly, saskatoons, which i planted 2-3 times before giving up.  He has managed to grow grapes - i think i planted Valiant, and he gets an occasional large bumper harvest from them. I suspect if he pruned them, more would ripen! Balsor's hardy blackberry died (possibly due to where he planted it!). Haskaps have grown well for me in Zone 4 Ontario, and i suspect would also do well in Zone 3. Things tend to die as much from baking in drought and shallow soil over bedrock, as winter kill, though.

I think living in Zone 3 really teaches you to treasure fruit, even tart fruit. I still enjoy chewing raw rhubarb, currants straight from the bush, and prefer sour cherries to sweet cherries.

Still, i am enjoying my move to zone 6!

Edit : oh! And i really enjoyed our wild Canada plum on good years. Some years the fruit was really tart and dry, but on good years, it was fantastic and a punch of flavour.

Catie George wrote:Haskaps have grown well for me in Zone 4 Ontario, and i suspect would also do well in Zone 3.

Plenty of people growing haskaps around me zone 3a northern-ish Alberta. They are on my list to add in the coming years.

New to this site. I'm in zone 3 near Dauphin, MB.  I am looking to plant a Trader Mulberry and am wondering if anyone else has panted one in zone 3 and if so what were the results?  Also, I see them for sale for various prices, from $22 at T&T in Winnipeg up to $60 (Vessys sell them for $57).  I'm not sure I trust T&T as I have had previous bad experiences with them but at less than half the price, it might be worth the risk.

For anyone interested here are the various fruits I've had luck with, or no luck with:

Rescue crab apple 2008 does spectacular production every year.
Planted a Sweet Sixteen (Whiffletree) whip 3 years ago, still waiting for fruit but it's doing well
Honeycrisp Dwarf (impulse buy from sage Garden Winnipeg) potted, 3 years ago.  Produced 10 delicious apples last season!
River grape (wild Manitoba) was here before I bought my place almost 20 years ago.  I have horribly abused this grape, but it keeps coming back and                                       producing copious quantities of grapes.
Somerset Grape (Green Barn - a company I DO NOT recommend) did not do well and died in year 3
Somerset Grape x 2 (Vignes Chez Soi)  Both did great, planted in 2022 and I had close to two 4 litre pails of sweet seedless grapes in 2025
A Canada Plum from a local nursery (Secords) and also a plum cherry.  The plum Cherry was productive but died after about 14 years.  the Canada Plum is still going strong, producing lots of fruit every year
Arctic Kiwi {Actinidia kolomikta}  (Ron Paul Garden Centre in Winnipeg)  I bought two female and one male in 2022, but they gave me one female and two males.  The female fruited in 2024, just a handful, but I got at least a full litre of fruit in 2025.
Black Ice Plum (impulse buy from Canadian Tire)  Anything exposed above the snow line dies each year, so I'll be removing it this year.
Toka Plum (Whiffletree) 2023, had a nice first taste of the fruit in 2025
Elderberry York (Nutcracker) 2023 and Bob Gordon (Whiffletree) 2023.  Flowered and fruited very well in 2024 and 2025.
Apricot, wescott (Nutcracker)  Was doing well until animal damage killed it decided to replace it.
Apricot Precious (Whiffletree) 2023 Was supposed to be on Mustang rootstock (semi dwarf), but after two years it's still only 5 feet high.  Tried to contact Whiffletree, but they never got back to me.  If it doesn't flower in 2026 I'll probably replace it.
Apricot Wescot (Whiffletree) 2025 (to replace the damaged one)
Lapins Sweet cherry (Whiffletree) 2025.  This one is a long shot, but there have been several reports of these cherries surviving zone 3 weather so I'm giving it a try.

Welcome Brett!  I'm based in Winnipeg and we are developing an acreage SW of the city.  I haven't been up your way in a while...I had a brother at Roblin for a while.

We do have a Trader mulberry surviving at the acreage.  We got it from T&T (in 2023 I think).  It's surviving, but not thriving - it certainly hasn't been babied.  I'm also leery of T&T after I learned they don't grow their stock, but bring it in...it's supposed to be hardy, but may not be as regionally adapted.  We've moved more to Morden Nurseries.  I want to start using Oak Summit Nursery out of Brandon as well.  I've also gotten some seeds from the Maritimes...the name escapes me at the moment.

Good to hear about Arctic Kiwi working for you - we had some that we brought with us from Saskatoon and transplanted in Winnipeg - there was lots of vegetative matter, but they never produced fruit...then we moved them to the acreage where they met their demise.  I understand they don't like wind, so I think we need to grow more windbreak before trying them again.  I've also been tempted by Somerset grape so I appreciate your description...I'll have to add them at some point.

I'll have to look at Lapins Sweet cherry as well.  We are close to the zone 3/4 border at the acreage, so it may be fine for us.  When the rabbits have left them alone, the Carmine Jewel and Crimson Passion cherries have done well for us.

Good luck!

Catie George wrote:My dad is still in zone 3, but Ontario - he hasnt had any success at all with the modern U Sask sweet sour cherry bushes or, sadly, saskatoons, which i planted 2-3 times before giving up.  He has managed to grow grapes - i think i planted Valiant, and he gets an occasional large bumper harvest from them. I suspect if he pruned them, more would ripen! Balsor's hardy blackberry died (possibly due to where he planted it!). Haskaps have grown well for me in Zone 4 Ontario, and i suspect would also do well in Zone 3. Things tend to die as much from baking in drought and shallow soil over bedrock, as winter kill, though.

I think living in Zone 3 really teaches you to treasure fruit, even tart fruit. I still enjoy chewing raw rhubarb, currants straight from the bush, and prefer sour cherries to sweet cherries.

Still, i am enjoying my move to zone 6!

Edit : oh! And i really enjoyed our wild Canada plum on good years. Some years the fruit was really tart and dry, but on good years, it was fantastic and a punch of flavour.

If the U of S Romance series cherries haven't grown well, I don't think it can be a zone / temperature issue.  I'd wonder if it was perhaps the nature of the soil or something similar.  They are pretty tough.  

It may vary by variety, but haskaps are hardy to zone 2 generally.  They should do well for him, assuming all other conditions are suitable.

This year we got some local plums that I think are the Canada wild plums - seeds were planted in the fall...we'll see what comes of it.